Question

How can something be enlarged using a scale factor of 4/3?

I don't know what they mean by enlarged by 4/3. Is it like divide it by 3 and then multiply it by 4?

Answer 1

See below.

Explanation:

Yeah basically.

Example:

Suppose you have a rectangle with dimensions `6xx12`

Enlarge by a scale factor `4/3`

Then:

`6->4/3(6)=8`

`12->4/3(12)=16`

New dimensions:

`8xx16`

So you just multiply all linear measurements by the scale factor.

Note:

Linear means distance in this context. You need to be careful when you get problems like:

If a rectangle is increased by a scale factor `4/3`, what is the change in its area.

In this case the area increases by a scale factor `(4/3)^2`, this is because area is quadratic.

Anyway I won't go further with this, and confuse you with too much detail.